Balancing Growth With Traffic Concerns in Providence

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) - Take a walking tour in the Village of Providence these days and you will need to wear your tennis shoes. The bustling development in west Huntsville is exploding with growth, and more construction has just been approved.

Providence developers Todd and David Slyman are moving forward on their master plans which call for 460 homes across Indian Creek along U.S. 72 W. The single-family homes are phase eight in a master plan that began back in 2003.

“If you would have polled most of the other developers in Huntsville when we started they would have said David and Todd Slyman are crazy, they could never pull this off," David Slyman said.

They have proved critiques wrong with the success of the Village of Providence, despite a poor economic situation and the housing market crash.

“I see a master plan that is basically being executed. What is going on today is basically an explosion in that master plan," David Slyman told WHNT News 19.

Today, Providence is home to hundreds of people, several restaurants, a gym, and office buildings. A $9 million SpringHill Suites hotel opened recently on Providence Main Street.

Traffic concerns have some nearby residents worried about traffic congestion near Providence. With hundreds of new homes comes hundreds of vehicles. The developers say they have went above and beyond to make sure their master plan for traffic and other issues will handle an increase in traffic.

“When people talk about traffic and congestion, it is the conventional talk of oh my gosh there is more development, and we did a lot more up front," Slyman said. "Our top transportation consultant was the head of the Florida Department of Transportation," he added.

Providence Main Street will have some resurfacing work done in the next few months. This phase of the plan also calls for another road to be built that will connect the new housing area with U.S. 72 W. The city Planning Commission approved the layout of the first 49 lots earlier this month. The Slyman brothers say they are already lining up contractors to begin clearing trees, building roads and running utilities.